Iowa Campus Compact's mission is to advance the public purposes of colleges and universities by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility.

Iowa Campus Compact was founded in 2003. A group of faculty and staff committed to community and civic engagement from a few private Iowa colleges and universities created the Iowa Service-Learning Partners (ISLP). As a result of their collaboration, presidents founded Iowa Campus Compact to serve the needs of faculty and staff interested in integrating civic engagement, service-learning and service into their campus culture and students' academic and campus life experience. 

National Campus Compact History
National Campus Compact was founded in 1985 by the presidents of Brown, Georgetown, and Stanford Universities and the president of the Education Commission of the States. In the mid-1980s, the media portrayed college students as materialistic and self-absorbed, more interested in making money than in helping their neighbors. The founding presidents believed this public image was false; they noted many students on their campuses who were involved in community service and believed many others would follow suit with the proper encouragement and supportive structures. 

Campus Compact was created to help colleges and universities create support structures. These include offices and staff to coordinate community engagement efforts, training to help faculty members integrate community work into their teaching and research, scholarships and other student incentives, and the institutional will to make civic and community engagement a priority. Today more than 98% of Campus Compact member campuses have one or more community partner, and more than 90% include service or civic engagement in their mission statements. These campuses are putting their knowledge and resources to work to help build strong communities and educate the next generation of responsible citizens.